ORIGINAL Skylanders Short Stories: Sunburn and Stealth Elf
by mpuppy4
Summary: (PREQUEL) Sunburn is fun-loving and arrogant. Stealth Elf is serious and uptight. When these polar opposites are paired up for what could quite possibly be the most important mission in Skylanders history, what will happen? Will Sunburn drive Stealth to the brink of insanity? Or... will this adventure lead to something more? Rated T for mild language and violence. Five-Shot.
1. Chapter 1

|| Heyo! Welcome to the fifth installment in the Skylanders Short Stories series, which has been discontinued and rebooted. This one is called _"Sunburn and Stealth Elf". _On-point title right there. A little _too _on point. ...Why the hell did I make the _fifth_ story in this series a _prequel? _I mean, okay, it was meant to be a wind-down between _The Birth of Dark Spyro _and _Sidekicks. _That would have been fine if there had been some sort of huge over-arcing subplot leading up to _The Birth of Dark Spyro, _which there _sort of _was, but... there were only three stories before it. Ugh, whatever. ||

* * *

**SKYLANDERS SHORT STORIES: SUNBURN AND STEALTH ELF  
**

_October 2014 - February 2015  
_

Sunburn is fun-loving and arrogant. Stealth Elf is serious and uptight. When these polar opposites are paired up for what could quite possibly be the most important mission in Skylanders history, what will happen? Will Sunburn drive Stealth to the brink of insanity? Or... will this adventure lead to something more?

**Chapter One**

"Stealth Elf? Hey, Stealth Elf!"

Whirlwind was bounding about the yards outside Master Eon's citadel. Judging by her calls, she was looking for Stealth Elf, the newest recruit to the Skylanders. She had only been on one mission thus far, and it was alongside Whirlwind. The unicorn hybrid was the only friend she had made. At least, the only one she knew about. Whirl turned her head in several different directions. "Not in the building, not in the courtyard, not on the beach... Where are you, Stealth Elf?"

She caught the eye of Trigger Happy, one of the original three Skylanders, who dashed over to her and said, "Hey, Whirlie! What's up?"

Whirl sighed. "Nothing, really. Just trying to find Stealth Elf."

Trigg blinked. "Who's Stealth Elf?"

The girl shook her head. "The new girl. I went on a mission with her the other day!" Trigger Happy still didn't know who she was talking about. "The forest elf girl with the mask."

"Oh, _that _Stealth Elf!" Trigg exclaimed. "Couldn't remember her name."

Whirlwind shook her head. "Yeah, you never remember the girls' names. I know you couldn't remember mine when I first joined."

Trigg laughed. "He he! I'm just bad with names, don't think I have anything against girls!"

"You better not." Whirl glared at him playfully. "I'll talk to you later, Trigg."

"Hasta la bye-bye, Whirlie!"

Whirlwind left him and approached the grove of trees not far from the Core of Light. "If I was raised by an Ent in Treetop Terrace," she said to herself. "this is where I would be." She narrowed her eyes to get a better look at the woods. "Let's see here..." She nearly missed it, but a shadow swooped between the treetops, barely making a sound. "Ah ha! There you are!"

Stealth Elf was indeed the shadow in the trees, leaping from branch to branch. Eventually she stopped and took a good look at the ground below. Seeing that there was nobody down there, she jumped off and sat down at the base of the tree. It was bright and early in the morning, but she was sort of nocturnal. You could tell from her droopy eyes that she had been awake all night, and probably figured that she could finally sleep. Oh, how wrong she was.

"Hey, Stealth Elf!" Whirlwind hopped out of the brush without warning, startling Stealth and causing her to fall over. "Oops, sorry. I figured you would have heard me coming."

Stealth sat back up and rubbed her head. "So did I..." she grumbled. "How did you do that?"

Whirl shrugged. "Uh, don't know! I know you have strong senses, I really did think you would have heard or smelled me."

"I do not think I would have been able to smell you with my nose covered by this mask."

"You know what I mean," Whirl said. "By the way, why don't you use contractions?"

Stealth looked at her blankly. "What is a 'contraction?'"

Whirl blinked. "Oh boy. I'll explain that some other time, if somebody else doesn't get to it first."

After deciding that wondering about what Whirlwind had said was hurting her brain, Stealth Elf settled back down and closed her eyes. "Why are you here, Whirlwind?'

Whirl tilted her head. "What do you mean, 'why am I here?' Is there something wrong with just wanting to talk to you?"

Stealth opened her eyes. "Nobody has ever wanted to talk to me before... nobody with good intentions."

"Really?" Whirl questioned. "Nobody at all?"

Stealth paused. "Well... my Master..." She sniffled.

Whirl set a paw on her friend's back. "Let's not talk about that, sweetie. Too soon."

Stealth nodded, rubbing her eyes. "Too soon..." she parroted. "You know... I don't think I've ever met anybody else my age..."

Whirl smiled faintly. "Actually, I'm a little older than you. Supposedly, since you don't know your own birth date." Stealth's ears drooped. "Er, let's stop talking about the depressing stuff!"

"There is a lot of depressing stuff."

"I know, sweetie."

Stealth tried to think of something that wouldn't work herself up. It took a while, but eventually she said, "I think you are the first girl I have ever met."

Whirl couldn't help but laugh. "Wait, really? I know you grew up in a forest, but you were really the only girl there?" Stealth nodded again. "Dang." She wrapped her tail around Stealth's waist affectionately. "Well, now you know another girl who you can talk to about girl things."

Before Stealth had the chance to ask what she meant by "girl things," they got a surprise visit. **"Heyo!" **...from Trigger Happy, who appeared in a tree branch, hanging by his legs. Stealth yelped and fell over into Whirlwind.

"Oof. ...until he shows up." Whirl pushed Stealth Elf off of her. "Trigg, did you follow me?"

"Maybe." He fell out of the tree and on his head, then stood back up completely unfazed. "Hey there, uh... elf girl."

"'Stealth Elf,'" Whirl reminded him.

"Yeah, I'm sticking with 'elf girl.' Hey, it's a nice bright morning! Who wants bacon and eggs?"

"I am a vegetarian," Stealth declared.

"Thanks anyway, Trigg," Whirlwind said.

Trigger Happy shrugged. "Hey, I can make a vegetarian breakfast! Anybody up for toast?"

Stealth turned back to Whirlwind. "What is 'toast?'"

Whirl facepalmed. "Poor, ignorant, grew-up-isolated-from-technology Stealth Elf..."

"What is 'isolated?'"

Trigg frowned. "And, apparently, three syllable words."

Stealth's ears drooped again. "What is a 'syllable?'"

"We need to get you into a school," Whirlwind laughed. "but not right now. It's not that important."

"Hm..."

Trigg scratched his head. "I'm pretty sure there was something I'm supposed to tell you... oh yeah! Master Eon is lookin' for ya, elf girl!"

"Eon?" Stealth asked.

Trigg nodded. "He should be just outside the citadel. I bet he's gonna give you your first assignment!"

"Yeah, technically we weren't 'assigned' that one mission the other day," Whirlwind noted. "Won't that be fun?"

Stealth shrugged. "Mm. Maybe."

Whirl and Trigg pulled her to her feet and pushed her towards the citadel. "Okay, go get a mission!" Trigg encouraged. "Go go go!"

"We'll be right here when you get back!" Whirl told her.

Stealth sighed. "What does this place have against sleep...?" She walked grumpily in the direction that they had pointed her. A few of the Skylanders waved to her and said hello, except for Chop Chop, who glared at her angrily (she did the same).

"Ah, Stealth Elf!" Master Eon greeted her when she arrived. "How are you doing this fine morning?"

"I am tired," Stealth growled. "Trigger Happy said that you wanted to see me."

"Ah, yes." Eon nodded. "You see, I have decided to give you your first assignment."

Her eyes widened. "Really?" she asked. _I thought they were kidding around. _"Um... what is it?"

Eon knelt down. Forest elves are... short. "Well, it's a very important mission, and since you've only been a Skylander for several days, I'm going to assign you a partner."

Stealth narrowed her eyes. "It is not the skeleton with the sword, is it?"

Eon chuckled. "No, it isn't Chop Chop. It's... oh, here he comes now!"

"He-e-e-ey, Stealth Elf!"

Stealth cringed. "H-He is almost as bad as the skeleton with the sword!"

Her partner was Sunburn.

* * *

On the far side of Skylands, a flying palace strolled through the air. But this wasn't just any flying palace, no... this flying palace belonged to the most evil dictator in the world: Kaos.

"I just can't stand this anymore, Glumshanks!" Kaos roared. Like usual, he was complaining to his butler about how many times he gets defeated. "That miserable _Loser Eon _has been stopping evildoers for centuries! Ceturies, Glumshanks! Even I- **Kaos! **-can't bring an end to this madness!" He turned to face the troll, who was drinking a cup of tea and sitting in an armchair. "Allow me to ask you, why is it that Eon always completely and utterly humiliates your magnificent leader?"

Glumshanks set down his cup on the plate he was holding. "I think you do it to yourself..." he muttered.

Kaos frowned. "Wrong answer," he growled. "I'll tell you why. It's because of those stupid Skylanders! They're the ones that Eon sends to do his dirty work." He smirked. "But, what would happen if he didn't have those Skylanders to do things for him?"

Glumshanks shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not bother us. Er, you."

"No!' the Dark Portal Master snapped. "Well, maybe. But more importantly, he wouldn't be able to stand in my way! There would be nobody left to stop me from taking over Skylands! So, I've devised a plan so fiendishly perfect... that I didn't consult anybody before starting it."

The butler shook his head. "I see. This outta be good." He set his cup down on a coffee table and stood up. "Alright sir, what is this brilliant, fool-proof plan of yours?"

Kaos smiled a toothy, evil smile. "Kidnap the Skylanders."

* * *

|| Oh my _god. _Okay, okay. This entry is of _much _higher quality than the previous four. _However... _this dialogue is _garbage! _Oh my _god!_

Wow, this... this chapter ended on a double-cliffhanger. Cool.

And hey, Whirlwind and Stealth Elf have a really cute friendship! Have I mentioned that I really like Whirlwind and Stealth Elf's friendship? ||


	2. Chapter 2

|| And here we have chapter 2 of Sunburn and Stealth Elf, AKA "the part where I forgot what I was gonna say". ||

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Glumshanks was surprised, to say the least. It wasn't very often that Kaos had a decent plan (decent meaning anything that wouldn't end in him exploding) but this seemed a little more like it could actually work than normal. "Really?" he asked. "Kidnap all of the Skylanders! How are you going to do that?"

Kaos chuckled. "Please, Glumshanks! I already have."

The troll's eyes widened as his master walked towards the set of stairs that lead to the dungeon. "W-Wait, seriously?" He followed Kaos down the stairs. "You've already caught _all _of the Skylanders?"

"Well, not all of them," Kaos responded. "A few of them! But the rest will come soon." He approached an electric gate and punched a code into a padlock. Inside the gate were thirty-two capsules built into the wall, color coded to represent that there were four per element. The names of each Skylander were written above the capsules. "I did some research, and built these capsules specifically to contain each individual Skylander."

Glumshanks examined the wall. Several of the Skylanders had already been miraculous caught- Prism Break, Wham-Shell, Ghost Roaster, and Sonic Boom. They were laying around and looking extremely bored, exceept for Ghost Roaster, who was etching his recipes into the wall with his finger. "Wow!" Glumshanks exclaimed. "I'm surprised you caught even one of them."

"So are we," Wham-Shell growled.

**"Hey!" **Kaos snapped. "No speaking unless spoken to!" Wham-Shell rolled his eyes and mimicked Kaos' mouth movements with his hand. Kaos stuck his tongue out.

"So they really can't escape?" Glumshanks asked.

Kaos shook his head. "Nope! Here, observe." He pulled a rock out of his cloak and chucked it at Ghost Roaster's capsules. **"Hey, ugly!" **Roaster growled and turned around to face them. **"You wanna piece of me?! Come on!" **Roaster shook his head and turned back to the wall.

Glumshanks stroked his chin. "Try insulting his cooking," he whispered.

Kaos nodded. **"Hey! I've tried your casserole! It tastes like play-dough!"**

Roaster's finger twitched. Fuming, he whirled around and transformed into his ectoplasm mode. But he couldn't pass through the glass. Wham-Shell facepalmed, Prism Break stared at the ground, and I think Sonic Boom was asleep. "Very impressive!" Glumshanks praised his master. "All of these are built specifically to be immune to their powers?"

"Exactly." Kaos nodded. "I think I built an extra capsule in the Life element, though."

"Actually, I believe they just recruited a new Life element a couple days ago."

"Eh?" Kaos questioned. "Is it dangerous? Does it have powers? Should I rebuild the capsule?"

Glumshanks shook his head. "I'm pretty sure it just carries weapons."

"You mean Stealth Elf," Prism Break said. "Yeah. Take away her daggers and she's harmless."

**"Prism Break!" **the Skylanders exclaimed.

He shrugged. "What? He would have figured it out anyway."

"Right you are, foolish prisoner," Kaos cackled. "Alright Glumshanks, if any of the Skylanders stray even two feet away from Eon's island, I want to know. It's too risky to send troops there to nab them all at once. Oh, and Glumshanks?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Get me a cappuccino!"

Glumshanks frowned. "But sir, we don't have any coffee-"

**"I don't care! Get some!"**

Wham-Shell watched the butler scurry out of the room. "Heh, glad we don't work for him."

**"No speaking unless spoken to!"**

* * *

Sunburn flashed a smile. "Hey, haven't seen you in a couple days," he said. "What have you been up to, Stealth Elf?"

Stealth glared at him. "Why do you care?" She hit herself on the forehead when the phoenix shrugged arrogantly. "Why is it him?" she asked Master Eon. "Can it be anybody else?" She sighed. "Why do I even need a partner for this mission."

"Well, like I said," Eon replied. "this is your first assignment, and it's very important."

Sunburn cocked his head. "Yeah, about that. Could you tell us what it is?"

Eon nodded. "Of course, Sunburn. Now you may have noticed, but a few of the Skylanders have gone missing on their most recent mission."

Stealth raised an eyebrow, but Sunburn immediately spat, "Kaos."

"That would be my assumption," Eon responded. "So, I want the two of you to investigate. Together." He beamed down at Stealth Elf. "Now I understand that you have trouble trusting the others, but you need to learn to make friends. You must know why I did this, child."

Stealth crossed her arms. "I guess..."

"C'mon, Stealth Elf!" Sunburn wrapped an arm around his new partner. "We're gonna have a grand ol' time! Just you and me!"

Stealth's eye twitched and she punched him in the face. "Do. Not. Touch me."

Eon smiled weakly. "Yes, you should keep an eye on her, Sunburn."

"Yeah, without dying..." he grumbled. He got back on his feet and shook the dirt out of his feathers. "This might have a rocky start, but I'm pretty sure it will end well. You can count on me, Master Eon."

"Very good. I expect to see both of you in one piece when you return."

Sunburn blinked. "Uh-huh. Not making any promises." Eon chuckled at this, even though it was very likely that Sunburn wasn't joking. "Come on, Stealth! Let's go grab a ship from Flynn."

Stealth followed him reluctantly. Then she realized something. "Um, who is Flynn?"

"Ha! Damn, you really haven't met Flynn yet?" Stealth shook her head. "Well, you're about to. He's our pilot. Takes us on most of our missions. Personality-wise, he's like me, but about a trillion times more cocky."

"Great." Stealth would have rolled her eyes if she was capable of doing so. "Do any of the boys here take their job seriously?"

Sunburn laughed. "I'll tell you what, Chop Chop takes things a little _too _seriously. Since you tried to assassinate Master Eon, the guy's convinced that you're a Drow." They both went silent. Sunburn noticed what he had said wrong and quickly stated. "Oh c'mon, you're not still upset about that, are you? You were forced to do it. That Splinter guy would have burned down the entirety of Treetop Terrace if you didn't. Besides, he's dead now!"

"Mm..."

"Hey, I get it. You're having a tough week! All Skylanders have their tough week. But... well, if we didn't have our tough weeks, we wouldn't all be friends!"

Stealth Elf was silent.

Sunburn chuckled. "Oh please, I know you at _least _like Whirlwind. Don't try to deny it."

"Hey, Sunburn!" That call came from Flynn, who had been reading a magazine called "All about you." "What brings you here? Come to see ol' Captain Flynn at his best?"

Sunburn looked at the ground and shook his head, trying not to laugh. "Uh, no," he replied. "Actually, we need a ship for our mission."

Flynn noticed Stealth Elf, standing impatiently behind Sunburn. "Oh, hey! You must be Stealth Elf!" He extended his hand. "Put 'er there!"

Stealth stared at his hand in confusion. This time Sunburn did laugh. "I don't think she knows what you want her to do."

The Mabu withdrew his hand. "Alrighty then. What's up with her?"

"Tough week," Sunburn replied.

"Ah, still that, huh?"

"Yeah, they usually last... a week! And it's only Friday."

"Mm-hm. Well, I wouldn't know what that's like." He flexed his arm. "Captain Flynn doesn't have tough weeks. Heh, I've never even had a bad hair day!" Stealth shook her head. "So, has she met any of the others yet?"

"Just me, Whirlwind, Trigger Happy..." Sunburn was straining his brain trying to remember. "I think Camo, and Master Eon... and Chop Chop."

"Ha! Wasn't he booing at her initiation?"

"Yep, that was him alright."

Flynn chuckled. "That guy needs to lighten up, seriously. I'll get you two a ship."

Sunburn watched him leave, then turned back to Stealth Elf. "You're quiet."

"There is no reason to speak," she said.

The hybrid shook his head. "Oh, you have some stuff to learn, don't you? If you don't talk to people they're gonna think you're a total bummer."

"I do not understand."

Sunburn crossed his eyes as he tried to wrap his head around this situation. "Okay. If you talk to people, they'll like you. If you don't talk to people, they'll act like Chop Chop. Got it?"

Stealth nodded. "I guess..."

"Okay, got yer ship, Sunburn!" Flynn called.

"We'll be right there! Come on, Stealth. I'm gonna teach you how to fly!"

"Great..."

* * *

|| No, really. The original author's note there was just me saying that I forgot what I was gonna say. Then in the bottom author's note I signal boosted a story called _"These Daggers Against My Fingertips"_ by Paranoixa... which I just reread, and it's still as good as I remember it being. Give it a look.

Eh heh heh, Sunburn and Stealth Elf on a ship... Get it? _Do you get it?! _||


	3. Chapter 3

|| And here we have chapter 3 of Sunburn and Stealth Elf, AKA "the part where the ship sails". ||

* * *

**Chapter Three**

"So many Skylanders, so little time..." Kaos was observing a pair of cyclops forcing Boomer into one of the cells. It took a while, but eventually they got him in there. The other Skylanders groaned upon seeing another one of their friends caught. It had been only a few hours since Kaos had introduced his newest plot to Glumshanks, but his minions had captured several Skylanders since. "Oh, this is too good. I'm making progress so quickly!"

One of the cyclops handed the bag that they had confiscated from Boomer to the Dark Portal Master. "This is everything it was carrying," it told him.

Kaos peered into the bag. "That's a lot of dynamite." He shoved it back into the cyclops' hands. "Take it to the explosives vault."

"Yessir."

When the two cyclops had left, Kaos looked up at his wall of prisoners triumphantly. "Let's see here... thirty-two minus thirteen equals nineteen." He smirked. "It won't be long now."

"What do you plan on doing to us?" Bash growled.

"Leaving you in there to rot, what else?" Kaos replied. "Unless I can master mind control, it's not safe to have you Skylosers anywhere else."

Zap whimpered. "Are you at least going to feed us?"

Kaos cackled. "Ha! Of course not!"

"Lord Kaos!" Glumshanks called through the enraged complaints. "The radar picked up that more of the Skylanders have left Eon's Citadel."

Kaos nodded. "Tell me."

"Well, three of them left for Leviathan Lagoon..."

"Send the Pirate Greebles."

"...one of them is in the underworld..."

"Some Arkeyans will make quick work of them."

"...and two of them left in a small airship."

"Have the Troll fleet deal with them."

Glumshanks bowed. "Yes, Lord Kaos. I'll get right on it."

The troll went out to follow through with his master's demands. Kaos glanced back up at the wall. "You hear that? More of your little friends are coming to join you!" He started counting on his fingers when his captives broke into a riot. "Nineteen minus six equals thirteen. They make it too easy."

* * *

The airship that Flynn left to Sunburn was absolutely tiny, but considering that it was just him and Stealth Elf, it was just the right size. While Sunburn steered the ship, Stealth was sitting in the corner, fiddling with a piece of wood. It looked like she was trying to carve it into the shape of a Stump Dog, but she was so terrible at it that you could barely tell. They were flying approaching two large islands, heading in the direction of Kaos' fortress. Sunburn had tried making conversation several times, but Stealth only replied with muffled grunts, so he gave up.

For a while, the only sound was the airship's propellers. Then Sunburn decided to ask, "What was it like?"

Stealth paused and glanced up at him. "What?"

"In Treetop Terrace," Sunburn replied. "What was it like in Treetop Terrace?"

Stealth was surprised that Sunburn had said something that wasn't about himself, or how he thought that her hair looked nice. "Well," she said. "There are a lot of trees there. Most of them are really big, but some of them are smaller. But it is not just trees there. There are a lot of other plants, too." For some reason, it seemed like Sunburn was genuinely listening to her. "Most of the ground there is covered in grass, but some of it is bare dirt. I like the grass... more than the grass at your, um, what is it called?"

"The Citadel."

"Yes, that. The grass there is not as nice. I do not know why exactly... hm. Uh, there are also watering holes, mostly small, but there is one larger by the Tree of Life."

"Ah, the Tree of Life." Sunburn smiled. "Camo won't shut up about that. What's it like?"

"The Tree of Life is the center of all life in Treetop Terrace," Stealth replied.

"That's kind of obvious."

She shot a glare back at him. "Quiet," she snapped. "Without the Tree of Life, nothing could exist in the forest."

"Then it wouldn't be a forest anymore."

"Yes, you could put it that way. The entire ecosystem is part of the Tree of Life. It is all connected. The whole forest... it is really one big tree. And all of the animals live in the tree, and the watering holes were created by the tree. Of course, nobody in the aboveworld cares about any of that..."

"What is the 'aboveworld?'"

"That is above the trees, were Camo is from. I have only been there a few times. My... er, my Master did not want me there."

"Why?"

"Ah, he said that it is dangerous. H-He did not want me to be hurt..." She stopped after that. Like Whirlwind said, it was too soon. Her late Master was a very sensitive subject.

Sunburn understood. He had witnessed first hand when Stealth Elf poured all of her sorrows out to Eon just after it happened. But also, just like her, he had lost someone very close to him.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "So, how long did you live there?"

Stealth rubbed her eyes. "I... I think seven years."

"And you're eleven?"

"Yes, I think so."

Sunburn paused to do the math. "So you've been there since you were four?"

Stealth tilted her head. She didn't understand where he had gotten that number, but she said yes anyway.

Sunburn was going to respond, until he noticed that an entire fleet of Troll airships was flying towards them. "Uh-oh."

"'Uh-oh?'" Stealth sprung up and rushed to see what he was looking at. "What 'uh-oh?'"

"Looks like Kaos found us," Sunburn growled. "Luckily for us, I spotted them before they got too close. Do you know how to drive and/or fire a cannon?"

Stealth narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'll take that as a 'no.' Okay, what to do..." The fleets were getting closer every moment that he didn't take action. "If we try to retreat, they could catch us. If I have her steer while I fire, she could crash us... crash... the ship... crash the ship! Of course!" He nodded. "Okay, I'm going to crash the ship."

"Eeeeeeh?" Stealth blinked. "Uh, I do not know much about airships, but is it not bad to crash them?"

"No, I'm going to crash it into that left island so they'll follow it. We're going to escape to the right island. They won't suspect a thing."

Stealth twiddled her thumbs. "If you say so..." she said quietly. "B-But, how are we going to get to the island?" The ships were getting closer.

"I'm gonna carry you there," Sunburn replied.

"You can really fly?"

"Of course I can fly! Now I'm going to wait until they start firing at us." He turned their ship to the left. "They'll think they shot our propellers."

"When will they start firing?"

Suddenly they were being shot at.

Sunburn blinked. "I'd say right about now!" He sent the ship plummeting towards the left island. "Alright, let's go! And remember, we have to be discreet!"

"What is 'discreet?'"

_(She's a ninja who doesn't know what discreet means. Great.) _"I'll explain later!" Sunburn flapped his wings and grabbed Stealth, then soared off of the ship. Just as he had planned, the Trolls were too busy chasing the abandoned vessel to notice that they had fled. "Heh. Trolls are stupid."

Stealth looked down at the endless void of sky below them. She had been trying not to, but couldn't help it. Upon seeing that there was virtually nothing below them, she yelped and latched onto Sunburn's leg. "Oof! Okay, please don't do that." Sunburn looked down at her. She was petrified. "Um, are you okay?"

"I m-may be just a l-little afraid of h-heights..." Stealth stammered.

Sunburn sighed. "Well, that's just great. Don't worry, we're almost there. Hold on!"

He swooped down, making sure that Stealth wasn't going anywhere. He dodged a couple of trees- it seemed to be a forest -and came to a halt. He hovered above the ground, but Stealth didn't seem to have realized where they were. Her eyes were shut tight. "Hey." Sunburn poked her. "You can let go now."

"Huh?" Stealth opened her eyes to find that there was ground below her. "Oh." She hopped down and Sunburn landed next to her. He noticed that she was a bit red in her face.

He laughed. "Hey, it's okay to be afraid of heights," Sunburn told Stealth. "Lots of people are!"

Stealth's ears drooped. "Really?" she asked.

Sunburn nodded and set a talon on her shoulder. "Really." Much to his surprise, he was touching her, and she wasn't punching him. She didn't even snap at him. It seemed that he had either broken or fixed her, though he wasn't sure which one.

After Sunburn removed his hand, Stealth observed, "This island is a forest."

"Yeah, it is." Sunburn was still bewildered by his partner's sudden change of attitude. He glanced up to find that the sky was becoming a wondrous shade of orange. "It's getting late. Let's find a place to rest and keep moving in the morning."

Stealth nodded. "I am tired." She stretched her left arm. "I can find a place to stay."

"Alright! Lead the way, forest girl."

Stealth scowled. "Do not call me that."

Sunburn shrugged. "Okay, I'll call you 'elf girl.'"

"That one is worse..." Sunburn was extremely annoying. But- stealth couldn't believe she was thinking this- he was also rather charming. Well, he had his moments. He was certainly nicer than Stealth had expected. Maybe... Maybe she liked him after all.

Apparently Stealth Elf is an expert on finding hollowed trees, because it took only a few minutes for her to find one. Sunburn was pleased to find that there was no grass growing inside. Stealth watched with a puzzled expression as he gathered a bunch of rocks and twigs and arranged them in an orderly pile. Then he breathed fire on them.

Stealth jumped. "Y-Y-You can shoot f-fire out of your b-beak?"

"Well, yeah," Sunburn replied. "I'm half phoenix half dragon. Of course I can breath fire!"

Good thing, too. They could have been there for forever and a day trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. Stealth Elf warmed her hands over the fire while Sunburn arranged two nests for them to sleep in. "The longest mission I've ever been on lasted for five days," Sunburn said when he joined Stealth. "It was me, Chop Chop, and Wham-Shell. We had to chase some bastard into the Underworld, but he trapped us in this huge maze that took four days for us to escape from. When we finally got out, we spent the entire fifth day tracking the guy down... But that's just the longest mission that _I've _been on. Spyro and Gill Grunt were gone for two weeks one time."

"Wow. How long do you think this mission will take?" Stealth inquired.

"If we're lucky, we'll be done tomorrow." Sunburn replied. "But we could be stuck here a while. It's better than being captured of dead, at least. I'll check to see if there's anybody else on this island tomorrow. If not, I'll fly out to get help. I'm sure you'll be fine here on your own."

Stealth nodded. "I will. Do not worry about me. I am very good at hiding."

"Whirlwind told me you can turn invisible."

"I can."

Sunburn smiled. "Okay, that's the coolest thing I've heard all day. Can you do it right now?"

"I can," Stealth replied. "but I am not going to."

Sunburn laughed. He was quite pleased with himself for developing Stealth's character this much in one day. He wasn't sure if she thought of him as a friend just yet, but he was determined that she would soon. After all, he liked her.

"Um..." Stealth muttered. "So, uh... where are you from?"

Sunburn cocked his head. "Really? You want to know?"

Stealth nodded. "I told you about me. And, I know you like to talk about yourself. So... go ahead! Tell me your life's story."

Sunburn smiled. "Well, I came from a place called 'Dragon's Peak...'"

* * *

Whirlwind was sitting on the beach just outside the Citadel, watching the sunset. Normally she loved the warm colors in the sky at the end of the day, but that day... that day, the sunset was unsettling to her.

Trigger Happy bounded away from the docks where he had been fishing (with his hands). When he noticed that Whirlwind was there, looking depressed, he dashed over to her. "Hey, Whirlie," he said. "What's the matter?"

Whirl sighed. "It's just... Stealth Elf and Sunburn have been gone all day! They haven't come back yet... I can't help worrying about them."

"Whirlwind, missions can go on for a really long time," Trigg reminded her. "Wait, Sunburn? He he! I wonder how many times elf girl has punched him by now."

Whirl scowled at him. "Her name is 'Stealth Elf.' And haven't you noticed that a bunch of the other Skylanders have disappeared? If anything happens to Sunburn and Stealth Elf..."

Trigg clenched his teeth. "I... I'm sure they're fine." He was lying. "Don't worry about it! I'm sure they'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Just wait! You'll see!" For a moment, he was silent. He listened to the waves crashing against the shore., which normally couldn't be heard over the chaos that the Skylanders caused. "It really has gotten quiet around here."

He had no idea how right he was. It was so quiet that Kaos had started sending his minions to the Citadel to capture the Skylanders in their own home. There could have been one directly behind them and they wouldn't have even noticed.

In fact, there was.

* * *

|| Ugh, this story suffers from telling instead of showing _so hard. _At least the telling is relevant here, unlike... in _some _stories...

I think that the awful pacing was, like, a running gag in this series. Literally every story takes place over the course of just one or two days. Actually I'm pretty sure that Sidekicks was three? But Sidekicks was just objectively the best story in this series, and it never got finished anyway.

Oh, and Whirlwind x Trigger Happy was totally gonna be a thing. I don't know if it still will be in the reboot, because Whirlwind's entire character is pretty much centered around Stealth Elf, but we'll see how things turn out. ||


	4. Chapter 4

|| And here we have chapter 4 of Sunburn and Stealth Elf, AKA "the part where it turns into a bad soap opera". ||

* * *

**Chapter Four**

It was around eight o'clock when Sunburn awoke the next morning. Stealth Elf had totally crashed immediately after he'd finished his story, which was to be expected as she hadn't slept in nearly forty-eight hours. Sunburn stood up and stretched, yawned loudly, then stepped outside the tree. The Sun was high in the sky, though it wasn't glaring because the trees were blocking a lot of it's light. He wandered a bit, not straying too far from the hollow tree, until deciding to sit down on the grass. He cast a glance back to the tree, then, bored out of him mind, began to sing quietly.

"Well, I don't show off, don't criticize

"I'm just livin' by my own feelings

"And I won't give in, won't compromise

"'Cuz I only have a steadfast heart of gold

"I don't know why, I can't leave though it might be tough

"But I ain't out of control, just livin' by my word

"Don't ask me why, I don't need a reason

"I got my way, my own way..."

In her corner, Stealth stirred. Sunburn wasn't very good at being quiet. She sat up and grumbled, fixed her hair, then stepped outside to see what the hell Sunburn was up to.

"It doesn't matter

"Now what happens, I will never give up the fight

"Long as the voice inside drives me to run and fight

"It doesn't matter who is wrong and who is-"

"What are you doing?" Stealth cut him off, successfully scaring the crap out of him.

Sunburn turned back to her, trying to regain his complexion and look as though she hadn't freaked him out. "Oh, er, uh, hey Stealth Elf. I, uh, what are you doing up already?"

Stealth glanced up at the sun, quickly determined it's position, then replied, "I would not be if you had not woken me up."

Sunburn sweatdropped. "Oh, sorry... I'm sort of loud by nature."

"I can tell." She sat down beside him, inhaled deeply, and exhaled. "It is a beautiful day, hm?"

Sunburn nodded. "Yeah... Man, what I give to be back at the Citadel instead of on a mission. Eh... speaking of which, we should get a move on. The longer we stand here doing nothing, the worse things are going to get." He stood himself up and started forward. "Go back to sleep," he instructed. "I'll be back soon."

With a scowl, Stealth replied, "No. I am going with you." she declared promptly.

"We agreed yesterday," Sunburn reminded her. "You stay. I go. Got it?" Stealth Elf was just sort of... staring. "Nngh, don't do that! It's creepy!" The phoenix sighed. "Look, you can come after me if I don't return in three hours, got it?" She was still staring at him. "You have no idea what an hour is, do you?" Stealth shook her head. Sunburn looked away in exasperation. "Okay, right then... Just come looking for me when I've been gone for a long time, okay?"

Stealth nodded slowly. "Okay..."

Sunburn flashed a smile, then turned back around to leave.

"U-Um..." He turned back, his left eye twitching. "Y-You have been gone a long time..."

Sunburn blinked. Then he smiled again. "Stay put, alright? That's all I ask. I'll be back soon."

He left before Stealth Elf could manage a response. She watched him go. "How soon...?"

* * *

"Yes! Yes!" Kaos exclaimed. "At long last! Victory is mine!"

Glumshanks tilted his head. "'At long last?' Sir, it hasn't even been two days."

"I know." Kaos smirked. "I'm just awesome like that."

Whirlwind, in a cell with her name etched over it, was shooting a death glare at the Dark Portal Master. Trigger Happy was scratched eagerly at the glass separating him from Kaos, who was tauntingly spinning one of his goldslinging guns on his finger.

While Kaos cackled heartily, Glumshanks was taking a closer look at the capsules in the wall. He clenched his teeth. "M-My lordship..." he stammered.

**"What?!" **Kaos snapped. "Can't you see I'm busy making people miserable?!"

"I hate to break it to you, sir, but you're celebrating too soon."

Questioningly, Kaos looked back up at the thirty-two capsules in the wall. Sure enough, and much to his shock, only thirty of them were filled. **"WHAT?!" **he roared. "How could this have happened?! All of the search parties came back positive! **Glumshanks!"**

The troll jumped. "U-U-Uh... one of the parties must have failed and panicked... Lied about being positive. Maybe."

Kaos growled and turned away. The Skylanders were muttering among themselves, and Trigger Happy heard Whirlwind say determinedly, "Sunburn and Stealth Elf." "Ugh, those filthy little-!" said Kaos in frustration. "Agh, you can't even trust your own minions to do anything these days!"

Glumshanks was fighting the urge to say "Well maybe if you paid them..." but he instead said, "What do you suggest, my lord?"

Kaos folded his arms and tapped his foot. For a moment, it was silent. Even the Skylanders (those that weren't unconscious) were anxiously awaiting his response. "Glumshanks," the Portal Master said. "I want you to hire Bounty Hunters."

His servant looked taken aback. "B-Bounty Hunters, my lord?" Kaos nodded. "B-But, those are even _less _reliable that what you already have! B-Besides, how are we supposed to pay them?"

Kaos shot one of Trigger Happy's guns and grabbed the coin out of the air. "Money isn't and issue." Glumshanks clenched his teeth. **"Go now!" **Kaos barked. With that, the troll scurried away.

* * *

Stealth Elf was sitting quietly inside the hollowed tree, drawing in the dirt with a stick. This was generally her favorite pastime, besides stabbing things. She wasn't sure what exactly she was drawing. Most of it was total nonsense. Some of it made some form of sense. A lot of it would only make sense to somebody who was very in touch with nature, a Life element. Or maybe none of it made any sense whatsoever. It was very difficult to tell.

The thing is that Stealth wasn't really paying attention to what she was doodling. For some reason, her mind was fixed on Sunburn, and she couldn't draw her thoughts away from him. _(The numskull,) _she thought. _(Why do I care? I do not. I do _not _care. I _should _not care. I should just wait for him like he said, and then finish the mission...) _She startled herself upon realizing that she was starting to draw the Fire Elemental emblem. She quickly wiped it out of the dirt, making sure that there was no trace of it ever being there in the first place. She heaved a sigh. _(This is stupid.)_

She stood up and walked outside, her legs somewhat numb as she had been sitting in a _seiza-_style (sitting upon the legs, or kneeling). That didn't happen very often. Or maybe she just didn't notice it normally, as it was the way she always sat. She glanced up at the sun, which was marginally farther from the spot it was in when she had last checked it. It had been nearly two and a half hours since Sunburn had left to explore the island, though Stealth had no real way to determine this. However, she could tell that it had been a reasonable amount of time, and it would probably be sensible to look for him now. She questioned why she was actually worried about his return, eventually drawing the conclusion that she had no way to leave without him. Making sure that both of her daggers were in hand, she scaled a tree and set out.

* * *

Sometime later, on the other side of the island, Sunburn was soaring above the trees. He had already checked every centimeter of the island's ground, and there was nothing living there at all besides the plants. He'd thought maybe that there was something or someone hidden in the sky, but he seemed to be mistaken. "Well, this was a big waste of time." He flapped his wings and set back in the direction of the tree. "Ugh, if Stealth left to look for me then I have to go track her-" But before he could finish his thought, something blasted his wing and her came spiraling down. "Ugh! Wha-?! **Ow!" **He crashed through the branches of a tree and landed on the ground with a loud **THUMP! **Carefully he rolled onto his stomach, as he had landed on his back, and stood back up. The phoenix shook himself, then cast a glance to his bleeding wing. "Okay, who's the wise guy?!"

Somebody chuckled from a few meters away, and Sunburn swung around to face them. It was a Fire Spell Punk, smirking mischievously, accompanied by a Loose Cannon and a Drow. The Drow, unlike most, didn't wear a mask, and still had his pupils. He looked generally untrained and unprofessional, though the spear he was carrying looked lethal. The Loose Cannon was wearing a very unamused expression, unlike his companions. "Nice shot," the Spell Punk chuckled. The Loose Cannon Troll grunted in response.

"Who the hell are you?!" Sunburn exclaimed.

"Nobody important," the Spell Punk replied with a shrug. "But, uh, we are gonna have to ask you to come with us."

The Drow snickered. "Yeah, don't give us any trouble, guy," he added.

Sunburn growled. "I'll be damned if I go willfully with minions of Kaos."

"Minions?" The Spell Punk chuckled once more. "No way, nope. He just hired us to pick up you nuisance. And your friend." He turned to the Troll. "He is supposed to have a friend, isn't he?" The Troll shrugged.

"Yeah, he is," the Drow replied. "What's the plan, boss?"

Sunburn anxiously backed away, but was stopped when the Loose Cannon shot him again. The blast only grazed him, but it still caused him to stumble. "Eh, just follow my lead," the Punk said casually, wiggling his wand at Sunburn and causing him to flinch. As the Spell Punk continued to wave his wand, Sunburn's eyes drooped, and he slowly... became... unconscious...

* * *

"Sunburn?" Stealth Elf called. She bounded from one tree to another, her ears perking at the slightest of sounds. _(Where...?) _It seemed like it would have been smarter for her to stay in the tree. At least then Sunburn would know where she was. For all Stealth knew, Sunburn was returning to the tree at that very moment. Now the question was whether or not it was best to keep searching for him or to go back. She just didn't know... but it turned out she didn't have to. "Sunburn!" She'd found him sitting in alone clearing. Apparently he hadn't found anybody on the island, but what was he doing just sitting there? Stealth leaped down to meet him, and Sunburn glanced at her.

"What are you doing here?" he growled.

Stealth blinked. "Um... y-you told me to-"

"I _told _you to stay in the tree," Sunburn snapped. "Don't you know how to follow orders?"

Stealth's ears drooped slightly. She was somewhere between confused and angry, though she was trying not to show that she was either. "I-"

"I'll have you know that I'm Spyro's second in command," Sunburn was quick to cut her off. "and if you're going to be a Skylander, you have to learn how to follow orders." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Unless you don't _really _plan on being a Skylander..."

"W-What?"

"Unless Chop Chop was _right," _Sunburn continued with a rasp that wasn't normally present in his voice. "You _are _a double-agent, aren't you? In fact, I'll bet _ you _killed that tree guy and _framed _that other tree guy! Is that right?!"

He'd hit a nerve with that accusation, but Stealth couldn't come up with a response.

Sunburn cast her a death glare. "If I were you, I'd leave before Eon saw through your disguise." But Stealth Elf didn't move. She was returning his glare steadily. "Go on! Go!" Sunburn shouted. "Go back to whatever spawn you came from."

Stealth still returned his gaze, but after a moment, gave up. "Fine." She turned and approached the tree that she came from, casting Sunburn another glance back. However, she scrambled up the tree without hesitation when he yelled "Go!" at her again. Sunburn watched her leave with somewhat of a smirk on his face. When she was well out of sight, Sunburn groaned and collapsed.

The Fire Spell Punk from before floated out of his body, snickering madly. His companion, the Loose Cannon, stepped out of the bushes. "Where's the other one?" the Spell Punk asked. The Troll pointed in the direction Stealth Elf had gone. "Already? Heh, you can always trust that guy to be right on top of things." They both turned to the unconscious Sunburn. "What do we do about this one? Poke him?" The Troll gave him a baffled look.

* * *

Stealth punched a tree and growled loudly. She tried to collect herself, pressing both hands against the tree in frustration, but it didn't seem to be working. She took took a couple steps back and fell to her knees. "Calm... down... calm..." She slowed her breathing back to it's normal pace. Then she stayed right where she was for a while. "Stupid... stupid Sunburn..." she muttered.

Something poked her in the back, and her ears perked. "What?" she grumbled without turning.

"Some day, huh?" somebody said. They walked around Stealth so she could see them. It was the unprofessional-looking Drow with the spear. "I saw you arguing with that guy. What a jerk."

Stealth looked up at him, then quickly back down. "What do you want?"

"Those Skylanders are a bunch of losers, y'know," said the Drow. "No respect, nope. None of 'em. You don't belong with them." Stealth was quiet. "I heard what that jerk accused you of. No respect, nope. Not him, not nobody. _I _know you're not guilty." Stealth still didn't reply. "You know who else know's you're not guilty?" the Drow asked, still being met with silence. _"Kaos."_

Stealth looked up at him uncertainly. "Him?"

"Yep." The Drow smirked. "Now that guy's got respect, yep. You should leave those Skylanders. Come with me. Go to Kaos. You're way better off with him."

Stealth Elf scowled and shot her gaze to the side. "My Master taught me to recognize the difference between Light and Dark," she growled. "I will die before I side with the Dark."

The Drow frowned. "Alright, then..." Stealth soon found his spear pointed at her throat. "I'm gonna have to ask that you come with me."

Stealth didn't move. She didn't say anything. She just sighed.

* * *

"I'm not poking him! You poke him!" Reluctantly, the Loose Cannon was poking Sunburn with a stick. "Be careful, my magic weakened him," the Spell Punk reminded him. The Troll continued poking until Sunburn started to stir. He opened his eyes, and upon realizing what had happened, shot up to his feet.

"Where is she?!" he roared. "Where's Stealth Elf?! What did you do to her?!" There was still blood streaming from his wing and dripping onto the grass.

"That doesn't matter," the Fire Punk said. "Now c'mon. We don't want any trouble."

Sunburn's pupils suddenly became a lot smaller. "Trouble... **you've got loads of it now!" **He set himself on fire and shot himself directly at the Spell Punk, effectively pummeling him.

"Hey! Hey!" The Spell Punk exclaimed. "You! You, get him!"

The Loose Cannon charged at Sunburn, knocking him into a tree. He stumbled, but continued to persist. He blasted the Troll with his fire beam, giving it's face a good burn. It roared and fired a missile at Sunburn. It his side, causing his blood to spatter the ground again. The Spell Punk clenched his teeth and examined him. "God damn it, look what you did! He's dead now!" The Troll's eyes widened. "One of a kind, too. Phoenix-dragon. Would have gone for millions on the black market." The Troll looked disappointed in itself. "Ah hey, buck up!" The Spell Punk pounded it on the back. "We'll still get plenty from Kaos."

The Troll nodded, then pointed back to Sunburn when the Fire Spell Punk started to leave. "Hm? Ah, leave him," the Punk responded. "What use do we have for a dead guy? Leave 'im here to rot, I say." So the Troll followed him back into the wood.

And for a moment...

...just a moment...

...it seemed as if all hope was lost.

* * *

|| I remember when I still legitimately used the word "sweatdrop" in my writing. I do still _kind of _use it... like I used sweating as a character expression, but I don't actually write out the word "sweatdrop". That's just cringey.

What, did you expect me to say something about the edgy, over-the-top cliffhanger here? Well, I'm not going to. There's really nothing for me to say about it, after all.

I will say that this story really exemplifies what a great character Sunburn is. In comparison to everyone else, at least. The way that he gets frustrated with Stealth's naïveté shows that he's flawed, but his will to protect her despite the fact that they barely know each other proves his strength. This isn't the only example, a keen eye would be able to catch more. That's the only one that I feel like pointing out, though. ||


	5. Chapter 5

|| And here we have chapter 5 of Sunburn and Stealth Elf, AKA "the part where the knight in shining armor sails down from the heavens to rescue his princess when she gets stabbed in the back".

* * *

**Chapter Five**

When Glumshanks opened the door to Stealth Elf's capsule, she willingly walked inside and sat down obediently. Whirlwind and Trigger Happy most notably were disappointed and rattled by this. The Drow who had captured her was having a conversation with Kaos that the Skylanders couldn't hear.

"Where's the other one?" Kaos growled. "I don't have time to wait around for this."

The Drow snorted. "What, no 'thank you?'" he questioned. "The others will bring the last one soon." He held out his hand. "Gimme."

Kaos rolled his eyes and pulled a small sack out of his cloak. He handed it to the Drow, who then peered inside and pulled out a shiny gold coin. He bit down on it, and, feeling quite pleased, said, "Yeah, that's the real deal. Pleasure doin' business with ya." He extended his hand, but Kaos didn't shake it.

"Whatever," the Portal Master said. "But I have to ask, how did you get it to come without putting up a fight?"

"Simple manipulation," the Drow replied. "Boss is a genius, really. Tricked 'er into thinkin' her friend betrayed her. Came right along."

Kaos nodded slowly. "I see..."

The Drow cast a glance back to Stealth Elf, the turned back to Kaos. "You, uh, might want to keep this one," he said. "Smart, fast, tough. Might be a decent addition if you can convince 'er. But that'll be a chore." Kaos didn't seem to care about a thing he was saying.

"I-I don't understand..." Whirlwind was whispering to Trigger Happy, who's cage was directly next to hers. "Why would she just turn herself over like that...?" They couldn't see each other, but they could hear each other just fine.

Trigger Happy wasn't sure he wanted to see her expression just then. "I-I'm sure she has a plan," he replied. "She and Sunburn must have worked something out... needed her to be captured..."

Just then, a loud dinging noise rang through the building. The same noise had sounded just an hour prior when the Drow arrived with Stealth Elf. "Glumshanks," Kaos called. "Get the door."

"Yessir."

The Skylanders watched Glumshanks leave. Whirlwind, Trigger Happy, and a few others stared at the door until he came back. Others had preoccupied themselves with something else. Gill Grunt, who probably had the most positive attitude of them all, was humming a tune that he'd learned in the Gillman military service. Terrafin was knocking his head on the wall because he'd let himself get captured, and getting yelled at by Cynder for making such a racket. Drobot was fussing over his electronic suit, which couldn't do anything while he was in the capsule. However, no matter what they were doing, they all looked up when Glumshanks returned, accompanied by a Fire Spell Punk and a Loose Cannon. Kaos and the Drow shared the same baffled expression.

"Well?" Kaos asked. "Where is it?"

"What's 'it?'" the Spell Punk questioned.

Kaos twitched. "What do you mean, 'what's it?!'" he roared. "Where's the last Skylander?!"

The Spell Punk exchanged glances with his Troll comrade. "Heh. Oh, yeah. About that guy..."

Kaos glared at them. "If it got away..."

"No, no!" the Punk assured him. "Quite on the contrary, he didn't get away."

The Dark Portal Master was tapping his foot impatiently. "Well then... where is it?!"

"He's, er..." the Spell Punk was fiddling with his wand. "...dead."

There was a sudden break out of gasping, shouting, and crying. Even Stealth Elf looked up when this news was delivered. "Would you all **shut up?!" **Kaos demanded. **"I'm trying to have a conversation here!" **He looked over the Skylanders, who were now completely silent, aside from a bit of sniffling. He then turned back to the Spell Punk. "What happened?"

"He freaked out on us," the Fire Spell Punk replied. "Asked what happened to his friend. We didn't even tell him... came right at us. Probably thought we killed 'er or something. Honest to god, knockin' the life outta him wasn't our intention."

Kaos folded his arms and pondered for a moment. "Fine," he said. "As long as it's out of the picture." The bounty hunters all let out a collective sigh of relief. "But I want the rest of the details. Tell me exactly what happened, from start to finish."

The Skylanders had gone back to sobbing and muttering among themselves. Not wanting to hear what the others had to say, Stealth Elf lowered her ears and stared at the ground. "That idiot..."

* * *

"What a bunch of baloney!" Flynn exclaimed to Hugo. "Two days! Thirty-two Skylanders! How the hell did he do it?!"

"He does have a rather large army," Hugo replied. They were approaching Master Eon's office inside the Citadel. "I'm sure it will be fine. They've gotten out of all kinds of situations, they can get out of this one. Er- Master Eon?"

When they came to Master Eon's chamber, they found him slaving over several tattered and torn books from his library. His helmet was on crooked, his face bared a very worried expression. "Yo, Master Eon," said Flynn. "What's going on?"

Eon glanced back at the Mabu. "Oh, hello Flynn. Hugo," he replied weakly.

Flynn and Hugo exchanged glances. "What's the matter, Master?" Hugo asked.

"It's very troubling, really..." Master Eon muttered. "I haven't had to do this in nearly a hundred years..."

"Master Eon?"

"Hm? Oh, sorry." Master Eon closed the book he was reading and stood up. "I need a quill and ink."

"I'm sorry?"

"Quill and ink, Hugo," Master Eon replied. "Meet me at the Core of Light." With that, he walked out of the room, book still in hand.

The Mabu watched him curiously. "What was that all about?" Flynn questioned.

"Not a clue," Hugo replied. He scuttled over to a shelf and pulled ink and a quill off of it. "but it's best not to question Master Eon. Let's go."

They started down the hall, and past many of the vacant dormitories. They noticed, as they were going down the many stair cases, that it was very eerily quiet. There wasn't even any sound coming from outside. No birds. No crickets. No wind. Nothing. Something really was wrong, they realized, even more wrong than they had thought before. They dashed across the courtyard towards the Core of Light. Master Eon was kneeling there, fingering through the pages in the large and stained book he'd brought down with him. "Good, you're here," he said, taking the ink and quill from Hugo. "Thank you for bringing this."

"What's happening, Master Eon?" Hugo asked, a note of worry in his voice.

"Yeah, what's with all the secrecy?" Flynn added. "Is this about the Skylanders? Can't they fix this mess on their own?"

Master Eon shook his head gravely. "I'm afraid not," he said. "This situation has turned from a simple act of chaos... into something much more dire."

"What is he talking about?" Flynn whispered to Hugo, who hushed him.

Master Eon set the book on the ground, popped the lid off of the ink bottle, and stood up. "This ritual is as old as time itself," he uttered, dipping the quill into the ink. "It takes powerful magic... I fear I may be too old to complete it..." Hugo and Flynn watched in an awe-inspired trance as Master Eon pressed the quill against the Core's outer covering and began to draw a circle. Inside that circle, he drew another, somewhat smaller circle. Then between the circles (he dipped the quill back into the ink) he began to draw what the Mabu could recognize as the eight elemental Emblems- Magic, Tech, Water, Fire, Life, Undead, Air, and Earth –-but there were also two symbols they couldn't recognize. These symbols appeared something like the sun and moon. Eon then continued, drawing lines to separate each of the ten symbols. Finally, (dipping the quill into the ink bottle one more time) he began to to draw an odd sign in the center.

"Hey, I've seen that thing before..." Flynn said. "All over Skylands. Yeah. It's not uncommon for a traveler like yours truly to see. People paste it all over everything. There's even one on the Portals, if I'm not mistaken. It's called... the, uh..."

"...the Shattering Sigil," Hugo finished.

"That's right," Master Eon responded. "The Shattering Sigil. The symbol of all Skylands." Once he finished drawing the Sigil, he handed the ink and quill back to Hugo. "You may want to step back," he said, picking up his staff. The Mabu took several paces back as Master Eon pounded his staff on the ground twice. The orb on his staff began to glow, and he started chanting in a complicated language that Flynn and Hugo couldn't understand.

_"__I̱ gi̱ to̱n skoteiná katoikeí sto fo̱s_

_"I̱ gi̱ tou fo̱tós katoikeí sto skotádi_

_"I̱ seirá efóson échoun topotheti̱theí_

_"Kai to cháos échei apó kairó antistáthi̱ke_

_"Ótan Cháos kánei klí̱si̱ tou_

_"Se perípto̱si̱ pou i̱ Entolí̱ pései poté_

_"Sti̱ synécheia, oi thrýloi tha af̱xi̱theí_

_"apó ti̱ fo̱tiá_

_"tou neroú_

_"ti̱s Gi̱s_

_"apó aéra_

_"apó ti̱ zo̱í̱_

_"apó to thánato_

_"ti̱s mageías_

_"ti̱s technologías_

_"apó to skotádi_

_"apó to fo̱s_

_"Ekeínoi pou échoun tis kalýteres prothéseis_

_"Poioi échoun psychí̱ tou fo̱tós_

_"Af̱tés eínai oi í̱ro̱es tou mýthou_

_"O mýthos pou tha apokatastí̱sei ti̱n táxi̱_

_"Kai kataraméno cháos sto si̱meío ópou eíche érthei!"_

The drawing glowed faintly, and then there was a blinding flash of blue light that stayed for barely a second before it left. Eon toppled onto his knees, breathing heavily. "Master Eon!" Hugo exclaimed.

Eon coughed and pulled himself to his feet, using his staff for balance. "I'm... fine, Hugo..." he said.

"What _was _that?" Flynn asked, noticing that the ink on the Core of Light had mysteriously disappeared.

"It's... nothing, Flynn..." Eon replied tiredly. "I... I must return to my chamber. Tell me if any... er, anything comes up."

Hugo and Flynn exchanged glances curiously. Whatever that was, it was definitely _not _nothing.

* * *

The light was dim over the forest. The sun was setting on Sunburn's body, limp, and his blood splashed onto the grass. He wasn't breathing. It was doubtful that there was any life left in him. And without Sunburn, there was nobody to rescue the Skylanders. And without the Skylanders, there was nobody to defeat Kaos. And if there was nobody to defeat Kaos... nothing good could possibly come from it. Overall, it looked like the end of all Skylands.

But then again, looks can be deceiving.

For just then, a powerful golden light came rocketing from the South and down onto the island. It blasted down upon the dreadful heap that was Sunburn and continued to engulf the entire forest. Amazingly, Sunburn's talon began to twitch. He opened his beak, and the faintest of noises came out. Struggling, he rolled slowly onto his stomach and attempted to get back on his feet. He could feel his strength very slowly returning to his body, and somehow, his wounds healing. When the light faded, Sunburn's feathers showed a powerful gold and blue color scheme. The plate on his chest, which normally bared the Fire Element crest, had changed to bare the Shattering Sigil. Questioningly, Sunburn looked around, in hopes of finding what might have happened. Then something clicked. "Stealth Elf?" he called. **"Stealth Elf!" **He tried to remember what happened. _(The Bounty Hunters. They took her. But where?) _His eyes glimmering with determination, he looked into the sky. "Kaos."

Spreading his newly healed wings, Sunburn took off above the trees and in the direction of the setting sun. Stealth Elf wasn't the only one in danger. He got the terrible feeling in his stomach that the safety of all Skylands was riding on him.

* * *

Whirlwind and Trigger Happy were sitting miserably in their cells, watching the Bounty Hunters greedily count and recount the money they'd received from Kaos. Kaos himself was looking over the wall containing his prisoners, waiting impatiently for Glumshanks to return with the coffee he'd recently demanded of. Things really didn't seem like they could get any worse. Maybe Flynn or somebody would come to rescue them? That seemed unlikely. Besides, even if he did, he would most likely be slaughtered by Kaos' army. What about Master Eon? No, he was too old to do any rescuing. Even if somebody did manage to save them, it wouldn't change the fact that Sunburn was gone for good. At least, that's what they thought. Whirlwind still had some little glimmering hope that he might still be alive. However, when she told Trigger Happy this, he didn't reply.

**"Glumshanks!" **Kaos roared, startling both the Skylanders and the Bounty Hunters. **"Where's my freaking coffee?!" **It was probably because the kitchen was halfway across the castle, but there was no response. Kaos growled.

"What are you grumbling for?" Terrafin questioned with a nasty tone in his voice.

"Yeah," Slam Bam added. "You've got no reason to. Your worst enemies are all either in your possession or dead. You should be happy."

Kaos glared at them. "I'm _not _happy," he flouted. "because **I don't have any coffee!**"

The Skylanders groaned in exasperation.

"What a brat!"

"He's too young for caffeine!"

**"If you don't shut up," **Kaos bellowed. **"I'll personally rip out all of your tongues!"**

"Joke's on you," Prism Break chortled. "I don't have a tongue."

Kaos was going to make a snappy come back, but was stopped by a loud shriek and something that made the entire castle shake. "-the hell?!" said Kaos. Glumshanks suddenly stormed in to the room, shaking in his boots and looking traumatized. This intrigued the Skylanders. "Glumshanks, there better be a cup of coffee in your pockets..." Kaos began.

"No coffee!" Glumshanks exclaimed, flailing frantically on the key pad that shut the door to the room. "No time for coffee! Close the door! Close the door!"

Kaos marched over to him and slammed his servant against the wall. "Glumshanks, when I say I want coffee, I mean-"

The castle rattled again. A bright gold light flashed from down the hall. **"Where the hell is Kaos?!" **the source of the commotion boomed.

Kaos' eyes widened and he started punching the code into the key pad. "Close the door! Close the door! Close the door!" As the cast-iron door shut itself, Trigger Happy could have sworn he saw something fly directly in front of it, if only for a split second.

"Ooh, did you see that?!" he exclaimed. "It was shiny!"

"Y-Yeah!" Whirlwind said. "But... what...?"

As if to answer her question, a ring of blue fire began to form in the center of the room, and from it materialized a shining figure- Sunburn. "Forgot I could teleport, eh?" he scoffed.

**"Sunburn!" **the Skylanders cried joyously over Kaos and Glumshanks' screaming. "He's shiny!" Trigger Happy added.

Sunburn glanced back at the wall. "Holy crap!" he exclaimed, then immediately whipped his head back around to face Kaos. "You're lucky I don't murder you right here and now."

Kaos clenched his teeth. "Y-You three!" He pointed to the Bounty Hunters, who were trying to sneak out a window. "Contain this thing and I'll double your pay!"

"No way!" The Fire Spell Punk cried.

"In your dreams!" the Drow said.

Kaos smiled nervously. "Did I say double? I meant triple!"

The Bounty Hunters exchanged glances and nodded. They quickly leaped over and surrounded Sunburn. "This time," the Spell Punk taunted. "yer gonna stay dead, yeah!"

Sunburn narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, no." The three dove at him, and he teleported away from them. He glanced around the room, then dashed over to what appeared to be a control panel. As the Bounty Hunters regrouped, Sunburn slammed down on a large button with the word "RELEASE" written over it on masking tape. Sure enough, this button opened the glass doors on all thirty-two capsules. "Alright!" he said. He teleported over to the keypad on the wall, bashed Kaos in the stomach, and tore the keypad and it's wiring out. This caused the door to reopen. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

The Skylanders began flooding out of their cells and through the door, although Whirlwind and Trigger Happy stayed to give the Bounty Hunters a good beating. The only person who stayed put was Stealth Elf. Sunburn was quick to notice this. "Stealth Elf," he called. "c'mon! Let's go!" Stealth still didn't move. She was just staring at him again. Sunburn sighed and walked over to her. "Come _on, _we can't stay here. Look, I don't know what those Bounty Hunters did, but I promise you, you can _trust me." _Stealth's expression lightened a bit, but she still didn't look completely convinced.

"H-Hey!" Sunburn turned to find that the Loose Cannon had Double Trouble and Zook pinned down. Sunburn glanced pleadingly at Stealth Elf, then zoomed away to help them. She cautiously stepped out of her cell, still not completely sure what was happening.

"Heya, sweet heart." Stealth turned to find that the Drow from before was there, spear handy.

She glared at him. "What do you want?"

"Hey, if yer not gonna stay with Kaos, and yer not gonna go with those Skylosers," the Drow said flirtatiously. "why don't you come with us? There's always room for a lady... I'm so bored of being surrounded by men."

Stealth looked somewhat disturbed. "I-I am eleven!" she exclaimed. "A-And I am _not _going with you!"

The Drow frowned. "Suit yourself." He swung his spear at her, but she moved to the side. Without her daggers, it took a moment longer than usual to decide on a tactic. When he swung at her again, she ducked down and swept him off his feet. Hoping that he would stay down, Stealth stood back up and started towards the open door. But she hadn't gotten far before the Drow grasped her spear and hurled it at her, striking her back.

**"Stealth Elf!" **Sunburn and Whirlwind cried. Sunburn clawed the Troll he was busy with in the face, then rushed to her side. "Stealth Elf..." She was unconscious, blood spilling from her wound. Sunburn swallowed. There was something awful about this picture that gave him the worst sense of déjà vu. He pulled the spear out of her back and angrily tossed it back at the Drow, then took Stealth in his arms and flew over to Whirlwind and Trigger Happy. "Here," he said. "Take her. I'll be right back." Trigg carefully took Stealth Elf from him and laid her down on the ground.

"Y-You can fix her," he stammered. "right?"

"I think so..." Whirlwind replied, examining the wound. "I hope so..."

Sunburn slammed the Fire Spell Punk into the ground with his tail, then grabbed him by the cloak. "If you know what's good for you," he growled. "you and your flunkies will leave _right now _while you still can."

The Spell Punk swallowed, then waved his want to signal the Troll and Drow. "C-Come on," he said. "We're done here."

"Y-Yeah," the Drow agreed, holding the spear, which was spattered with both Stealth Elf's blood and his own. "Done, yeah. Let's go..." Sunburn watched with a steady gaze as the three of them left, the Spell Punk shooting a death glare at Kaos.

"Fix her _faster!" _Trigg exclaimed.

"I'm doing everything I can!" Whirlwind snapped. Being only half unicorn, her healing abilities weren't as powerful as a purebred. She'd stopped the bleeding, but Stealth's wound was still open. "We need to bring her back to the Citadel... I have equipment there..."

Trigg's ears folded back. "Is she gonna be okay...?"

Whirl hung her head. "I-I can't tell right now..." she said. "It's a deep flesh wound... it needs proper care..."

"We can't wait around here, then." Sunburn was standing over them. "Come on, let's get a move on."

"What happened to yer color?" Trigg questioned.

"Not a clue," Sunburn admitted. "but that doesn't matter."

Trigg smiled. "I'm just glad yer not dead. For a second I thought the author broke the universe!"

Sunburn looked confused. "Wha-? Y'know what, nevermind. Now c'mon, let's-"

"Oh, Stealth Elf!" The boys turned to find that Stealth was awake, although woozy. "You should go back to sleep," Whirlwind suggested gently.

Stealth snorted. "That was _not _sleeping," she grumbled. "How bad am I hurt? Tell me."

Whirl tilted her head sadly. "I... don't... know," she replied. "B-But, I'll be able to figure it out when we get back to the Citadel."

"Can you stand?" Sunburn asked.

Whirl helped Stealth up. "S-Sort of..." she replied.

Sunburn supported her. "Come on, we'll meet up with the others outside."

Glumshanks watched apprehensively as the Skylanders started out the open door. He was holding Kaos, who was still injured from Sunburn's assault, in his lap. "Glumshanks..." the Portal Master whispered.

The Troll swallowed. "Y-Yes...?" he quietly responded.

Kaos glowered at him. "Don't let them escape."

Glumshanks frowned, sweating slightly, then stood up and followed the Skylanders into the hall. "H-Hey!" he called.

The four turned. "What?!" Trigg exclaimed.

Glumshanks swallowed, reaching for a lever on the wall that read "LOCKDOWN." Sunburn had seen several others like around the building. "I... I can't allow you to leave here!"

Sunburn's eyes widened. He looked up to see what looked suspiciously like a door that could come down on them. "Don't do it," he said. "Don't make me hurt you."

Glumshanks clenched his teeth. "I guess I'll be getting hurt either way." As he grasped the lever, Sunburn pushed Whirlwind and Trigger Happy forward. Sure enough, the door came down, separating the four of them. An alarm began to sound throughout the building.

"Damn it!" Sunburn growled.

"Now what...?" Stealth asked weakly.

Glumshanks approached them, twiddling his thumbs. "U-Um..." he said. "L-Listen, I really don't want to get in trouble with Lord Kaos... but..." He pointed to the "LOCKDOWN" lever. "Th-There's a hidden panel next to it... with a lock puzzle... it will shut off the lockdown..."

Sunburn and Stealth Elf looked at him questioningly. "Er... okay..." Sunburn said. "Why are you telling us this...?"

"I..." Glumshanks stared at his feet. "Well... it doesn't really matter why... but..." He looked back up. "I want you to hurt me."

Sunburn looked startled. "Wha... wha, why?"

"Because," Glumshanks lowered his voice. "Kaos will kill me if he finds out I told you that. It needs to look like you forced the information out of me."

Sunburn had a sorrowful expression, though Stealth still looked skeptical. "Well..." Sunburn said. "Okay... if that's what you want, then..." Hesitantly, he shot the Troll with a fire beam. It knocked him back into the wall, causing blood to spout from his mouth.

He smiled faintly. "Th... thank you..."

"What a downer," Sunburn muttered, helping Stealth Elf walk over to the lever. He rubbed his talon on the wall, found an indentation, and pulled a panel out. What appeared to be an old arcade game appeared, complete with two analog sticks and a title screen that said "SPARK LOCK." Sunburn looked taken aback. "What... the hell... is this...?"

"Is there a problem?" Stealth questioned.

"Problem?!" Sunburn exclaimed. "This isn't a lock puzzle! I don't know what this is!" He toggled the analog sticks, causing green and blue figures on the screen to move. "Ugh, I can't even focus with this freaking alarm!"

Stealth looked irritated. "Nngh... give me that!" She pushed him aside and look the analog sticks, moving the two figures on the screen around. Sunburn watched, baffled, as the blue figure pushed a button and went to meet up with the green figure. When they came together, victory music played and the arcade-looking-thing moved back into the wall. The alarm suddenly cut off, and the door separating them from Whirlwind and Trigger Happy rose back into the ceiling.

"Sunburn! Stealth Elf!" Whirl cried. Before they knew it, they were being hugged half to death.

"What, did you think we couldn't hold our own against Glumshanks?" Sunburn flashed a smile. "We're fine."

"So are we!" Trigg said. He rubbed under his nose. "Heh, I totally wasn't crying!"

"He was," Whirl contradicted. "Now we can't waste anymore time. Outside, move it people!"

"Hooray!" Trigger Happy cheered.

Sunburn glanced submissively to Stealth, who he was still supporting. "Eh heh... don't tell anybody I couldn't figure that thing out, alright?"

Stealth tilted her head. "Hm... fine."

When they met up with the other twenty-eight Skylanders outside, they were greeted with a round of cheering. Spyro informed them that Voodood and Slam Bam had left to hijack a couple of Kaos' ships for those who couldn't fly. However, those who could wouldn't have that luxury. Kaos was evil, but it still wasn't nice to take his stuff, so they were only to take what they really needed.

"Come _on!"_

"N-No! I do not want to!"

Sunburn was trying to convince Stealth Elf to let him carry her.

"C'mon, it's better than some stuffy Troll airship."

Stealth's ears were drooped. "N-No, I really would rather not."

Trigger Happy chuckled. "It's not _that _bad, elf girl!" he insisted. Whirlwind let him climb onto her back. "There's nothing like flying!"

Stealth narrowed her eyes. "I do not doubt it."

Sunburn smirked and grabbed her around the waist. She yelped and grabbed onto him like last time. "You can't live in Skylands and have a fear of heights," said Sunburn playfully. "so let's fix that!"

Trigg giggled, watching them take off into the sky. "Sunburn," Whirlwind sighed. "I don't think that's the proper way to deal with that kind of fear..."

"What are we down here for?!" Trigg exclaimed. "Let's go! Go!"

"Alright, alright..." Whirlwind followed them up. "Hey, you okay there?" she asked Stealth Elf, who was still clinging to Sunburn's leg for dear life.

"She's fine!" Sunburn said. "Aren't you?"

Stealth was staring down at the cloudy void. "I-I-I-I d-d-d-d-"

"She's fine," Trigg agreed.

Whirlwind nudged Stealth, and she looked up fearfully. "Just give it a chance, okay?" the hybrid said. "It's not a long journey. You might like it."

Stealth was still unsure. "Hey," She glanced up at Sunburn. "I'm not gonna drop you. Trust me!"

"Trust you..." Stealth's grip tightened. "I... I..." She paused, then loosened up a bit. "O-Okay. I trust you." Sunburn smiled. "...even if you are an idiot."

Sunburn sweatdropped. "Heh, that's good enough for me!"

* * *

|| Stealth is such a tsundere. She'd give Akita Neru and Osana Najimi a run for their money.

You know, for being my favorite character, I sure did paint Stealth Elf to be an incompetent damsel in distress. Ouch. That's definitely not gonna happen in the reboot.

Hey, this story is actually pretty decent. Far from the best thing I've written, but I will say that this is the first Skylanders Short Story that I can give this certificate to:

**THE "IT ISN'T TOTAL GARBAGE" AWARD  
SKYLANDERS SHORT STORIES: SUNBURN AND STEALTH ELF  
2014-2015**

Congratulations, Sunburn and Stealth Elf! You did a good! *rolls "congratulations" clip from Evangelion*

Next time, last but not least: _Sidekicks! _||


	6. Credits

** Credits**

When can we do this again?  
When can I see you again?  
When can we do this again?  
When can I see you again?  
When can we do this again?  
When can I see you again?

Switch on the sky and the stars glow for you  
Go see the world 'cause it's all so brand new  
Don't close your eyes 'cause your future's ready to shine  
It's just a matter of time, before we learn how to fly  
Welcome to the rhythm of the night  
There's something in the air you can't deny

It's been fun but now I've got to go  
Life is way too short to take it slow  
But before I go and hit the road  
I gotta know, 'til then,  
when can we do this again?  
Oh oh oh oh  
When can I see you again?  
Oh oh oh oh  
When can we do this again?  
Oh oh oh oh  
I gotta know, when can I see you again?  
(When can I see you again?)

Joined at the hip, yeah your sidekick needs you  
Life is a trip down the road that leads you  
Look all around at all the mountains you haven't climbed  
It's just a matter of time, before we learn how to fly  
Welcome to the rhythm of the night  
There's something in the air you can't deny

It's been fun but now I've got to go  
Life is way too short to take it slow  
But before I go and hit the road  
I gotta know, 'til then,  
when can we do this again?  
Oh oh oh oh  
When can I see you again?  
Oh oh oh oh  
When can we do this again?  
Oh oh oh oh  
I gotta know,  
When can I see you again?

Don't close your eyes 'cause your future's ready to shine  
It's just a matter of time, before we learn how to fly  
Welcome to the rhythm of the night  
There's something in the air you can't deny  
So let me know before I wave goodbye

When can I see you again?  
Oh oh oh oh  
When can we do this again?  
Oh oh oh oh  
When can I see you again?  
Oh oh oh oh  
When can we do this again?  
Oh oh oh oh

Yeah, it's been fun but now I've got to go  
Life is way too short to take it slow  
But before I go and hit the road  
Tell me when  
When can I see you again?  
When can I see you again?  
Tell me when  
When can I see you again?

**Song:** "When Can I See You Again?" by Owl City

**Next time on Skylanders Short Stories:** If you have heart and soul, you can rock n' roll!


End file.
